


The Headless Rider

by Anonymous



Category: Durarara!!
Genre: Character Study, F/M, Motorcycles, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-30
Updated: 2019-10-30
Packaged: 2021-01-08 07:51:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,413
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21232352
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: Under a starless, pitch-black sky, the headless rider roamed the streets of Ikebukuro on a motorcycle that made no sound.





	The Headless Rider

Under a starless, pitch-black sky, the headless rider roamed the streets of Ikebukuro on a motorcycle that made no sound.

The wheels spun smoothly under her, racing past intersections without paying the slightest regard to the lights that flashed yellow and green, to the signs with their strange symbols and shapes. They meant something to the humans living here, communicated instructions and laws and where to walk and where to go, but they were meaningless to her. There was only one direction that mattered to her, and only one destination.

Her head called out to her with an undefinable pull. She knew it was in this city, and she could point in its general direction, but she had yet to track it down amongst this tangle of metal structures and concrete mazes. Today would end just like all those other days of fruitless searching, wandering around aimlessly until the sun came up, and going back to -

The rider stopped, the motorcycle rolling past a stop sign and idling in the middle of the empty street. Lights blinked at her. The white lines on the pavement glowed and shone as they reflected the streetlamps. She was intensely aware of the fact that she was avoiding something, avoiding _thinking _about something. Strange, that she could still do that without a head, and without a brain.

The human that waited for her, back home, had been a constant companion during her time in this land. She had noticed a change in her behavior recently - going home earlier than usual, feeling less frustrated by her lack of results.

After a few moments in that person's presence, the pull of her head lessened and faded into the background. When she sensed his smile, the anxiety in her went away, and she felt less incomplete, in a way, less desperate to find the piece of her that was missing.

She still wasn't sure how to feel about that.

_I want to go home._ It was strange to have another pull growing inside her, back towards that boy, back towards that place.

She was terrified of it. She was not a creature used to change. Change was something for mortals, with their lives that came and went like flashing lights.

Already, that boy had grown from a small child into a lanky adult, or at least a slightly younger version of one. He stood as tall as she did now, and was still growing.

For her, it seemed like every second in his presence made as much of an impression as centuries roaming the Irish countryside. No, more. Her memories of her home were fading away into indistinct blurs, but she could still recall the weight of his eyes on her.

The headless rider was used to the cold nighttime air, the chill and the eerie silence. It was the same here as it was in every other place, quiet and peaceful. But even so, she shivered.

.

By the time she came back to the place where she belonged, it was morning. The early rush of traffic had been difficult to navigate around, and she was pretty sure that she had been seen. It didn't matter, though. After an entire night of fruitless searching, she was frustrated and irritable and too tired to try to keep out of sight.

A bright, cheerful voice greeted her from the kitchen. "Celty, you're back!"

That's right. Her name was Celty. That had been her name even before her head had been severed from her body, and coming from this boy's mouth, it gathered all of her attention.

She came in further into the apartment, found the boy making eggs in a pan by the stove. He tilted his head to greet her, and gave her one of his brilliant smiles.

This was Shinra Kishitani, the boy who had found her at sea, the boy who had never left her life ever since that moment.

He hummed as he dug around for a spatula, grabbed a salt shaker from the top shelf of the cabinet and rounded back over to his eggs. Celty watched him for a while, leaning against the doorframe, wondering when he had grown so _tall_. He used to need to climb up on a chair in order to reach the spices in the cabinets, and now he reached them without even trying.

"No luck today?" he asked, busying himself with scrambling the eggs.

Celty sighed. She had no head to shake, but Shinra understood her anyway.

"Aww Celty, don't be sad." He tapped his spatula against the pan. Compared to the quiet stillness of the city at night, being around Shinra always meant being near a constant source of noise, either from his chatter or from his movements. Celty didn't mind it though. She felt herself gradually relaxing into the warmth in his voice. "Why don't you sit with me while I eat breakfast? I was worried when you didn't come back at your usual time. I didn't sleep too well last night, so classes are going to be rough today - "

He chattered on as he brought his plate to the table. Celty joined him, and listened with wry amusement as he detailed the latest incidents that had been going on at his school. He was her only source of news about the human world, the waking one where the bustle of people spilled out into the streets and interacted with each other in broad daylight. His stories always filled her with an indescribable sense of longing and curiosity, a desire to see that world that he lived in.

"Celty?"

Celty jerked back to the present. She hadn't been aware of dozing off, but now Shinra was in front of her, his eyes large and concerned.

"I knew it," he said. "You haven't been sleeping enough. I'm sorry for keeping you awake."

A little shock of guilt and horror burst inside her. The last thing Celty wanted was to make him feel guilty. She grabbed his hand as he turned away, clasped it in both of hers.

Shinra's reaction was incredibly strange. His entire face changed in color, going from its normal shade to a startling shade of pink. Celty nearly dropped his hand in shock and concern. But now he had grabbed her hands in his.

A startling sensation went through her. His palms were warm, but surely that shouldn't be enough to account for the way her body temperature had gone up by several degrees. All movement in the kitchen stilled. The silence was nothing like the silence in the streets of Ikebukuro.

Celty could feel her thoughts spinning out of control. This was new. This was not something she had ever experienced before. Was she dying? What was happening to her?

Shinra was staring at her with wide-eyed concern now, but the pink tinge still hadn't faded from his face. Was _he _dying? Celty felt a sharp spear of anguish go through her at the thought. She forgot that of _course _he was dying, all mortals were, all the time.

"What's wrong?" Shinra asked.

Celty didn't have her PDA with her, didn't have any way to say: _I just don't want to be alone_.

Would he understand? _Could _he understand, something like that, someone like her, wanting something other than an eternity of being alone?

Shinra smiled at her. Somehow, he had understood.

"I can stay with you today," he said. "We can rent a movie, or go take a walk around the park. Don't worry about your head. I promise that you'll find it. I'll even help you, if that's what it takes."

Celty stilled in surprise at the offer, but she wasn't sure why. He had been dead serious. That was just who Shinra was - someone who would go to the ends of the earth for her, someone who was willing to do anything to help her, all with that slight adoring smile on his face and that gentle voice. He would stand against the entire world for her. She could end up plunging this entire city into a maelstrom of fire and shadows, and the look in his eyes when he saw her wouldn't change in the slightest.

She nodded. Shinra beamed at her.

She had never been aware of her heart before, the way it lay dead and still in her chest. But now there was a warmth there too, an exasperated fondness. She supposed that this feeling was her version of love.


End file.
